In the new age, spiritual and astrological community, mercury retrogrades have a bad reputation. In fact, it has become a joke. Anytime a series of unfortunate events happen you’ll hear someone say, “mercury must be in retrograde”. Those of us who have suffered from the influence of mercury going retrograde find ourselves torn between wanting to know when they are coming so we can prepare for them and not wanting to know when they are even happening. You’ll often hear the saying “I just want to hide under the covers until it is all over." But fear not, mercury retrogrades are only frightening when you don’t know how to use their energy to your advantage.